The Reaping

"The reaping is a good opportunity for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as well. Twelve- through eighteen-year-olds are herded into roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in the front, the young ones, like Prim, toward the back."

A reaping is an annual event that takes place in every district before each Hunger Games, where the tributes of the upcoming Games are chosen.
Each district's escort randomly chooses the name of one male and one female tribute from two separate glass balls. Those picked are then the official tributes for the upcoming Games. To be qualified for a reaping, one must be twelve years old. Once of age, a

The District 12 reapings for the 75th Hunger Games

potential-tribute's name is entered into the reaping one time. The entries are cumulative, so when a possible tribute is thirteen, their name is added one more time. This continues until age 18, when a potential-tribute's name is entered 7 times, or more if they apply for tesserae.

Each age group is contained in roped-off areas in the town square, waiting for someone to be picked. The reapings take place at different times in different districts, so that Capitol citizens can watch them all live on television. Many members of the public, who show little to no sympathy for the potential tributes, often place bets on who will be chosen. Unless someone is already on their deathbed, they receive the death penalty for not attending their district's reaping.

Volunteering

Katniss volunteering for Prim.

If someone so chooses, they may volunteer to take the place of a tribute who is selected. This is often done by Career Tributes who spend their lives training to compete in the Hunger Games. It is sometimes done for other reasons though, such as when Katniss Everdeen volunteered to protect her reaped sister, Prim, but this is not done nearly as often as Careers volunteering.

The volunteering process is simple in most districts, especially the later numbered ones. But in earlier numbered districts, such as the Career districts, (1, 2, and 4) volunteering is a more complicated process since participating in the Games is seen as an honor and victors are highly respected and have great prestige.

Tesserae

Katniss' finger is pricked for blood in order to identify.

Effie Trinket standing next to one of the Reaping Balls.

For the residents of various districts, any child between the ages of twelve through eighteen, if it is needed, can apply for tesserae. This supplies them with a meager year's supply of grain and oil. They can choose to do this for each of their family members as well. However, each tesserae they sign up for puts another slip with their name in the reaping glass jar. It is also cumulative, so Katniss Everdeen, when she was sixteen, had her name put in the glass ball twenty times. Gale Hawthorne, who has five family members including himself, had his name put in the glass ball forty-two times. The amount of tesserae taken is larger in Panem's poorer districts, such as District 12.

Quarter Quells

Every 25 years, the tributes are chosen in an alternate manner. The instructions for that year are specified inside a special envelope read by the president ahead of time. The rules at the Reaping change for ever Quarter Quell, though. In the 25th Hunger Games, the districts voted on the tributes who got reaped, in the 50th, twice the amount of tributes were sent, and in the 75th Hunger Games, the tributes were reaped from the existing pool of victors.